NOTE: This is less of a typical review and more of a string of thoughts with a short review……considering the events of today.

I’ve always found it to be somewhat odd that a bands interest and album sales seem to peak after a member’s passing…and admittedly I feel a bit strange posting this. I wasn’t going to cover much in the way of death metal on this blog.

However, today I was touched by a story I read. It was in regard to the passing of veteran death metal/grind band Internal Bleeding’s drummer, Mr. Bill Tolley. More than that however, this was a man who was a long-time public servant in the NYFD (New York Fire Department), a husband and father…thus the reason I’m calling him “Mister.”

I’m almost ashamed of the fact that I’ve known for many years who Internal Bleeding was but never really listened to them. Perhaps that’s not that odd, however. But because of the story today, I made an extra effort to check out the latest single and video from Internal Bleeding. Now, why I have been listening to long-running American death metal/thrash bands like OverKill and Malevolent Creation and NOT Internal Bleeding I’m not sure.

After listening to the Final Justice single, however, it didn’t take long for me to realize the fact that a lot of bands haven been influenced by them or are even blatant rip-offs. Metal bands are a dime a dozen but long-running bands like Internal Bleeding are few and far between any more. Now I know who Korn lifted some of their riffs from.

Final Justice is simply classic, no-frills, punch in the gut grind. They mix elements of death and thrash metal…so let’s just leave them at “grind.”

Having listened to this track, I hope that the band continues not only for their own sake but also for the fact that bands like this just simply aren’t around much anymore.

So, that’s my piece… as small as it may be. I hope a few new ears hear the single and show Internal Bleeding some respect by going back and buying some of their albums.

Rest in Piece, Mr. Tolley. I didn’t know you. I never met you. But I can already tell you are a hero. Thank you for your service.

This was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for taking the time to read this. And the Korn reference is spot on. If you only knew what Bill’s face would look like when he heard certain Korn riffs and said “Jesus, that’s right off our demo” (which came out long before Korn ever was around). How you knew that or divined that is uncanny. Thank you for your kind words about a great man, who loved his bandmates, his city and his fans very deeply. Chris/Internal Bleeding